Many Caribbean households consist of extended families

08/06/2015 15:00

Household statistics for the Caribbean Netherlands published by Statistics Netherlands today reveal that just over one in ten households in the Caribbean Netherlands comprise relatives in addition to the nuclear family. These extended families in one household are rare in the Netherlands.

Relatively more children in Caribbean Netherlands live with grandparent(s)

In nearly 13 percent of households in the Caribbean Netherlands, parents and children live with other relatives and non-relatives. This is much more common than the 1.4 percent of households in the Netherlands. Extended families occurs in all types of households, but most often in households with children. Around 30 percent of Caribbean households with children and one parent or two unmarried parents also comprise other members, often the mother’s parent(s).

Percentage of households consisting of extended family, 1 January 2014

Nearly half of Caribbean households consist of one person

The 24.3 thousand inhabitants of the Caribbean Netherlands lived in nearly 11 thousand households on 1 January 2014. Singles account for 44 percent of these households, single-parent households for 12 percent ,and married couples (with or without children) for 26 percent. In the Netherlands there are relatively more married couples, and fewer single and single-parent households. For Antillean households in the Netherlands the distribution across these categories is more similar to that in the Caribbean than to the average in the Netherlands.

Households by type, 1 January 2014

Especially many single households on Saba and St Eustatius

Over half of households on Saba and St Eustatius are single households. On Saba this is the effect of the relatively large number of students, while on St Eustatius there are relatively many single middle-aged men.